"Tom Francis" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 13:33:23 GMT, "MMC" wrote:

"Our treaty had always said that the Great Lakes will not be
militarized," Mr. Miller said. "And in effect, this remilitarizes them in
the name of a threat from 9/11."

I don't get it.

When we were out in WI last summer, the CG vessels there had what
looked like .50 cals on their RIB craft and three years ago when I
went swimming in the St. Lawrence Seaway, the CG RIBs there had
automacis weapons mounted and when we traveled around Lake Huron, the
RIBs there had automatic weapons.

These objectors blind or something? And it's not like the Canadian
"Navy" isn't armed which I know for a fact because I was aboard one of
their small vessels when I went overboard.

Just thought it an interesting article related to boating.
I know the live fire ranges will be marked on the charts and announcements
made before the ranges are put in use. Actually be quite surprised if the
Coast Guard didn't all ready have areas for this as firing off the deck of a
rolling vessel is a lot different than from a fixed position on land.
If your gunners are going to be proficient, they have to have a place to
practice. In the Navy, we practiced firing in the open sea at targets like
garbage bags (no money in the budget for "real" targets) and the occasional
"target of opportunity" like boat people boats, after taking the boat people
off of course.
The captain let us do this to get rid of these worn out hulks as they would
become hazards to navigation.
MMC